Eternal Flame
by PrEcIoUs DeSiRe
Summary: It's their 5th year at Hogwarts. This year the school is going to put on the play Romeo and Juliet for the school. Hermione and Draco get the lead roles and all of a sudden weird things start to happen. What will happen between Draco and Hermione?


Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters and yeah. and I don't make any profit from this either.  
  
It was mid-morning. There was a feeling in the air which meant the end of two months of carefree days without the worries of exams, Potions with Snape or even the weird creatures Hagrid had in Care of Magical Creatures. Harry, Ron and Hermione were at platform 9 ¾ at King's Cross waiting to board their belongings onto the Hogwarts Express.  
  
Harry and Ron had spent their summer at the Burrow after the terrible accident at Hogwarts, along with the return of Voldemort. Hermione on the other hand had spent a month in Bulgaria with Viktor Krum and the last two weeks with Harry and Ron at the Burrow. She was currently suffering heartbreak because while in Bulgaria she had realized that Viktor was nothing like she had thought he was. When he was staying at Hogwarts he was very much a gentleman, like how he had escorted her to the Yule Ball when Ron and Harry hadn't even thought of asking her, but while in Bulgaria he was the one in the spotlight and he adored it very much.  
  
All Viktor and Hermione did that whole month was attend Quidditch matches and practices and go out, which all involved the press. She had been on every single Bulgarian magazine cover and due to that she had received many howlers and hate mail, while Viktor was getting even more attention, especially for displaying England-Bulgarian relations. By the time the end of the month had come around, Hermione had realized how wrong it was to be in a relationship with Viktor and although she was the one to break off their relationship, she was still hurt. She felt conned and played with as if she were a pawn in chess.  
  
Life isn't fair she thought to herself. How can someone be such a different person at one place and then a totally different person somewhere else? Right at that moment, Hermione felt very betrayed. She promised herself, right then and there, that she wouldn't fall for another guy like that again.  
  
"Mione?" Ron said interrupting her thoughts.  
  
"What?" she snapped in reply, still feeling bitter from her thoughts.  
  
"Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed," said Ron. Hermione still hadn't told anyone about what had happened in Bulgaria. She was meaning to tell Harry, but when they were at the Burrow, she never had the chance to speak to him alone. Either Ron was always with him or anyone of the other Weasleys were. The reason that Hermione didn't want to tell Ron what happened was that he was jealous when he found out that Viktor was taking her to the Yule Ball and that they were going out, so she didn't want Ron to get the satisfying feeling that her and Viktor weren't together anymore. As well as the fact that he was a tad immature. She knew that only Harry would be able to take things seriously when she talked with him, while Ron would joke around and scoff that it wasn't even remotely serious.  
  
Getting back to reality, Hermione realized that they had better board onto the train because it was a quarter to eleven. If they didn't hurry, they wouldn't be able to get a compartment all to themselves.  
  
***  
  
Once they were all settled in and had bought some sweets off the trolley, Ron piped up. "Hey! I just realized something. Hermione, you didn't tell us how Bulgaria was with Vicky!"  
  
Hermione groaned, "Oh.well it was okay. We basically just went to Quidditch matches and practices. Nothing big really." Hermione looked up to see if they had actually believed what she was saying. Ron looked somewhat satisfied, but Harry had an inquisitive look on his face.  
  
Harry knew that Hermione wasn't telling the truth. He made himself a note to remember to ask her what actually happened when Ron wasn't around, but before he asked her that, Harry thought he would ask her a few questions, just to make her squirm. "So, when are you going to see Viktor next?" Harry asked.  
  
Hermione looked up at Harry to see a smirk plastered on his face. She realized that Harry knew that something had happened between her and Viktor. She smiled at that thought. Now this news won't shock Harry if it comes out of nowhere she said in her mind. She then playfully replied, "I was thinking something along the lines of Christmas holidays. We can have two weeks just to ourselves."  
  
At this news both Harry and Hermione heard a thump. They both looked at Ron to see that he had passed out and was lying on the floor of the compartment.  
  
***  
  
Draco Malfoy was standing outside Harry, Ron and Hermione's compartment. He had placed a spell on the door so he was able to see and hear through the door, while the people on the other side though, wouldn't be able to see or hear him. Draco had been listening to the conversation they were having and he saw Ron pass out. What a git he thought to himself. Did Ron actually believe that bullocks that Hermione was saying? Even he could see that she was lying about nothing happening while she was in Bulgaria. He though had told Crabbe and Goyle the exact same thing when they had asked how everything had gone when he spent the first month of summer vacation at Pansy Parkinson's because his parents had gone to France for the summer and were too busy to spend some time with him.  
  
Draco and Pansy were very much a couple at Hogwarts, so he thought that his summer wouldn't be too bad. But before he knew it, his summer was turning into a disaster and it changed everything between the two of them. He never realized how annoying or clingy Pansy really was. When he was at her castle, she wanted to spend every single second with him and whenever he would get annoyed with her because of that she would always ask him "Oh what's wrong, Drakkie?" or "Drakkie, did I do something wrong?" He didn't even like to be called Drakkie! And by the time July had finished he had had just about enough of Pansy! He had decided to send his father an owl to allow him to stay at either Crabbe's or Goyle's, but before he could do that he would have to end things with Pansy. He couldn't bear to spend any more time with her and if he let it slide, she would be the same way with him at school, which was another ten months!  
  
He could still remember that day as if it were yesterday.  
  
*  
  
It was around noon and he had been wandering around the castle thinking about what he should do about Pansy. He didn't know how to tell her that he didn't want to be with her anymore without hurting her too much. She was a wonderful girl and he loved her very much, but she had too many qualities that turned him off.  
  
How do I break this to her gently? He said to himself. If I say one wrong thing she may just blow up like bomb! And if I break her heart really badly, somehow father will find out and I will have to spend the rest of my life alone considering there are very few pureblood families with girls!  
  
He was really in a rut! Maybe if he just made up everything on the spot, things might go a bit more smoothly. Planning things out would just make him more nervous and he would probably screw up everything.  
  
He decided to go find Pansy and he thought that she would probably be in her room. When he got there Pansy was standing out on her balcony, which was overlooking a beautiful pool with one side surrounded by a dark, lush forest. Her blonde hair glimmered in the sunlight, which made her look absolutely gorgeous. Draco felt so much more worse having to break up with her, but it was something he had to do.  
  
"Pansy? Are you busy?" Draco asked innocently.  
  
She turned around a bit surprised that he had come without hearing him. "Uh.no. I was just thinking."  
  
"About what?" he asked out of curiosity.  
  
"Oh, just how life will be like when we get married. We'll have a big house, two or three beautiful children. It'll probably be more than I can even imagine!"  
  
Oh no! I'm going to break her heart by saying this. I can't! He said in his mind. But I have to, otherwise I'll be miserable my whole life! He kept debating in his head and then spoke.  
  
"Pansy. There's something I need to tell you. Maybe you should sit down," he said gesturing towards the chair right by her. Pansy looked up at him very puzzled but sat down anyway. "Um.I guess there's no easy way to say this Pansy, but.uh.I have to. Pansy.I can't be with you anymore." He couldn't believe that he had finally said it. He looked up at Pansy though, to see her reaction. She looked shocked and didn't say anything for a while, making him feel a bit queasy.  
  
Finally she said, "Why Drakkie, why?" with a tear rolling down her cheek.  
  
"Pansy, I know you're probably really hurt right now, but I want you to believe me when I say this. I really do love you and I always will, but I just don't think that this relationship will work out. There are just too many differences between us." He wiped her tears that were coming down more often and faster. "I really didn't want to hurt you, but after this month so many things have changed between us. I guess it was that the more I found out new things about you, the more I realized that you weren't the person I really thought that you were. I just couldn't keep this relationship going based on a lie that I really did love you for the same reasons that I used to. I truly hope I really didn't hurt you too much." It was the last thing that he had said to her before he ran off and Flooed his way to Crabbe's.  
  
*  
  
The breakup was hard on him although Draco was the one who ended their relationship. He spent the rest of his summer either dazed off in another world or thinking how life would be like if he was still Pansy. The week before they were due to return to Hogwarts for their fifth year, Draco solemnly swore to himself that he wasn't going to fall for another girl like that again, just to make him a wreck by the time they were through.  
  
All of a sudden the whistle blew, interrupting Draco's thoughts. They were at finally at Hogwarts. He said in his mind. Hopefully a new year full of surprises and excitement. Probably more than he ever thought. 


End file.
